Japan’s population fell by a record 0.22 percent to 127.515 million as of last Oct. 1, while people aged 65 or older surpassed the 30 million mark for the first time, the government said Tuesday.
The figures are from a survey by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry.
The decline of 284,000 in the total population, which also included foreign nationals, was the largest of its kind since officials began compiling comparable data in 1950.
It was also the second year in a row that the population has fallen.